The present disclosure relates generally to medical devices and, more particularly, to sensors used for sensing physiological parameters of a patient.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
In the field of medicine, doctors often desire to monitor certain physiological characteristics of their patients. Accordingly, a wide variety of devices have been developed for monitoring physiological characteristics. Such devices provide doctors and other healthcare personnel with the information they need to provide the best possible healthcare for their patients. As a result, such monitoring devices have become an indispensable part of modern medicine.
One such monitoring technique is commonly referred to as pulse oximetry. Pulse oximetry may be used to measure various blood flow characteristics, such as the blood-oxygen saturation of hemoglobin in arterial blood and/or the rate of blood pulsations corresponding to each heartbeat of a patient.
The devices based upon pulse oximetry techniques are commonly referred to as pulse oximeters. Pulse oximeters typically utilize a non-invasive sensor that is placed on or against a patient's tissue that is well perfused with blood, such as a patient's finger, toe, forehead or earlobe. The pulse oximeter sensor emits light and photoelectrically senses the absorption and/or scattering of the light after passage through the perfused tissue. The data collected by the sensor may then be used to calculate one or more of the above physiological characteristics based upon the absorption or scattering of the light. More specifically, the emitted light is typically selected to be of one or more wavelengths that are absorbed or scattered in an amount related to the presence of oxygenated versus de-oxygenated hemoglobin in the blood. The amount of light absorbed and/or scattered may then be used to estimate the amount of the oxygen in the tissue using various algorithms.
Pulse oximetry sensors may include a flex circuit that electrically connects various electrical components of the sensor. For example, components of the flex circuit may include an optical emitter, such as an LED, a photodetector and wires forming conductors which electrically connect the sensor components and/or allow connection of the sensor components to a pulse oximeter monitor via wire leads contained in a cable. During use of such a sensor, mechanical stresses may be placed on the location where an external cable and its wire leads are attached to the sensor frame and associated flex circuit. Generally, a strain relief may be provided to reduce the effect of the mechanical stresses at the point where the cable attaches to the sensor frame.
During the manufacturing process it may be labor intensive to secure a strain relief to the sensor frame and cable prior to and during the process of connecting the wire leads of the cable to the flex circuit. Further, aligning the wire leads for proper connection may be a labor intensive task, the difficulty of which may result in wires being improperly seated, resulting in the production of poorly functioning or non-functioning sensors.